Cube courthouse — Shinichi Ogawa & Associates

I always loved the idea of posting one image per day, just to make at the end of year a great booklet with 365 striking, inspirational, emotional images that caught my attention, one way or another. I’m sure it will be a great compilation, a personal selection, a curated album that underneath the images reflects trends that live in contemporary culture.

In my The Squid Stories blog I have such a section, and once in a while I do use it, but not enough and certainly not enough to achieve my ‘booklet’ idea….

So, is the end of a year not thé moment to set yourself some goals, and keep them in the following year?

I think so.

So, my first challenge of the year: a daily post, one daily image that moves, interests, or annoys me somehow. I’ll take the challenge, and maybe you can keep me to this challenge by encouraging me with comments, ideas and suggestions.

Let’s set this deal with the last ‘image of the day’ of 2014.

Last image of the year. Tough choice but as a lot of things I have in mind for next year: I’ll try to keep things simple and interesting.

So this image, a modern Japanese house decorated with sober, nearly naive drawings, is for me a perfect closure of this year.

The tension between new and what was good in the early years, is happening in our world. Traditional and new, found each other and blend into something even more intriguing and real new. You can see this happening in gastronomy, in fashion, in design and architecture. A very exciting new mix being created, resulting in beautiful new favors, shapes, volumes, images and colors.

Besides that, I also like the idea of using art on facades of private homes, not in a street art way, but to make something new, more in balance and more human.

Polish artist Maria Umievskaya, fascinated by Asian culture drew sketches of symbols and motifs (stylistically similar to those found in ancient Asian cultures) on the exterior facades of cutting-edge, contemporary Japanese homes.  Not by hand, although it looks like it has, but with digitally manipulated images that blend art and architecture, traditional and modern, digital and tangible. Mixing two time periods and two locations (suburban Japan and her own studio in Kiev) with this images as a beautiful and delicate result.

Tomorrow, next year, expect a new one. And another and another.

Later!

Kate

 

The Squid Stories thanks www.designboom.com for spotting this ‚Image of the day’ story.

All images courtesy of Maria Umievskaya.